Exclusive | NYC teachers slapped with pricey fines, nightmare search for parking spaces, as city caps spots

For 10 years, Janet Elias shelled out $100 a month to an Alley Pond, Queens homeowner for a coveted amenity: a guaranteed parking spot in their driveway every day from 7:30 am to 3 pm.A New York City public school teacher since 2005, Elias was a technology instructor at nearby PS 46, where she routinely struggled to find spaces, even within a 30-minute walk of her job.“God forbid it snowed—forget about it.Then you were really screwed,” Elias told The Post.Now retired, Elias continues to advocate for current teachers online and at city council meetings.

She calls the parking debacle one of her top issues — and current educators say the problem has only gotten worse.Teachers in Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx told The Post their mornings are dictated by a mad, and maddening, scramble to find parking.They wake up over an hour earlier than their commute requires, knowing they will spend 40 to 50 minutes circling neighboring blocks like a crow searching for a wayward salami slice.Some said school-zone residents deliberately park in ways that box out teachers, frustrated by their own lack of spots — or hoping to encourage teachers to use their meager salaries to rent a “space” in their private driveway.One city official, who declined to comment publicly, said teachers should consider taking public transit, or even biking straight to their classrooms, arguing that this issue is moot because many educators hop the subway.But that approach isn’t always practical, Elias said, especially for teachers who commute from Long Island or work in hard-to-reach school zones requiring multiple transfers.According to 2024 New York City census data, nearly 50% of DOE workers take public transportation, compared with 21% who drive, while only 2% commute by bike — even as the city continues to add miles of bike and bus lanes.The issue has gotten worse as new charter and private schools continue to multiply like Mamdani-ignored potholes, all without designated faculty pa...